Hitting Hybrids & Slicing Drivers

Hello, new golfer here (only been playing about 1 month) with two very specific problems.

1) Hitting Hybrids - I just can't seem to do it. I have two that I just got on recommendation from a friend to replace my long irons, but I'm terrible with them. I'm not sure where to hit them from in my stance or how exactly the club face should be orientated before I swing. I tend to just blast them off to one side or the other with no loft on them at all. It's very frustrating since I don't really have this kind of consistent trouble with any other club except:

2) Slicing my Driver - Fairly consistently and very hard I was told by one friend that this might indicate that the club shaft was too flexible or my swing was too fast, preventing the face from coming all the way around. I'm not sure whether that's the case though, since I don't have the same issue hitting my 3 wood at all.

Help on either count would be most welcome (even though I know there isn't much to go on) Thank you all for your help. I'll try to check replies again towards the end of lunch.

You made the correct move by switching out your long irons for hybrids. And to answer your hybrid question, you basically play it in the same position as you would a 6iron. But in reality, there isnt really a quick tip to remedy the overall situation. It is your overall golf swing situation that is causing those problems.

The first thing that you would need to take care of is your grip. Its extraordinarily important. Your grip can vastly change whether you hit a succesful shot or not and is very much taken for granted with most golfers. Also you need to perfect your posture and alignment. You may not have the same flexiblity or strength as a lot of the tour pros (all though it certainly is possible for you to be stronger and more flexible than many pros), but you can certainly have perfect grip, posture, and alignment. After you get all of that together, then you want to work on your swing. If you would like to take that route, i wouldnt mind helping you out.

So hit the clubs just like I would a 6iron. I think I've been trying to hit them off my front foot like a fairway wood. I will give that a try.

I know it is something very fundamental that's causing the issues. (I assumed that it might be specific to the clubs, since I hit my short irons and higher loft woods fairly consistently) Right now my grip changes almost every shot because I've never been told exactly how it should be. My posture (so I've been told) is pretty good for a beginner after working on it for the last two weeks. I'm not sure what you mean exactly by alignment. I've been told that I tend to over extend my back swing sometimes and that I try to use my arms to power the shot sometimes too (Just trying to rattle off the things that I know I'm probably not doing right ) The main thing I've been working on lately is some advice from a veteran player that has helped immensely: focusing on keeping my back swing and my follow through "high" rather than "back". Focusing on starting and ending my swing high has improved my accuracy considerably. I'm planning on heading to the range after work to hit a bucket. Is there something that I should work on at this stage (again, I know without looking at the swing it's tough)? Thank you again for all the help!

The advice about the hybrids is right on. Hit them like an iron not a fairway wood. You can take a shallow divot with them just like you would a 3 or 4 iron. Don't try and help the ball into the air. Let the club take care of that job. As for the driver, work on swing fundamentals for a while. Get some lessons if possible and it will go a long way in hitting all clubs better. You need to get familiar with all the fundamentals of address that have to do with alignment and posture. Do that and then we can talk about specific club issues and swing flaws.

You certainly dont want to even play your fairway woods off your front foot. That'll cause you to thin almost every shot (hit the bottom grooves of the club causing it to take off very low...or worse top it...causing the ball to dribble forward 20 yards). You want to play wedge-7iron in the middle of your stance...your 6i-hybrid about 1-2 ball lengths forward of middle. Your woods about 3 ball lengths forward, and your driver off the inside of your heel...not your toe.

Alignment refers to the orientation of your feet, knees, hips, shoulders in relation to the target line. Basically, its how your body is facing the ball and the target. The idea is to use a "train track" type concept. You want to imagine the rails of a traintrack. The ball is on the outside rail...and your feet should be on the inside rail. You also want your feet, shoulders, hips all parallel with your target line (an imaginary infinite line that passes through your ball towards the target). Right now you should be working on those fundamentals. Not to be short, but pounding balls on the range wont really help you out if your fundamentals are off. I made a thread last night called something towards the effect of "gripping a golf club". I highly recommend you watch that video regarding grip. I suggest that you use the neutral interlocking grip. Its explained in the video. They also provide a lot of good information for developing your swing on youtube. Another source i'd recommend is Shawn Clement. He's got a bunch of free videos on youtube that'll get you in the right direction. RIght now you want to learn to develop good habits as well as understanding the theory behind how the club and the ball interact. The concepts are fairly simple, but they arent necessarily intuitive. Just an example, If you dont understand how the club works, it'll be counterintuitive to hit down on the ball to make it go up...and your brain will fight your body from hitting down...making you want to scoop it up...causing a certain mishit. So watch those videos. You want to be going in the right direction as soon as possible. I'd also recommend getting an instructor. Although of course going out and playing is fun...spending those green fees on some instruction is definitely a worthy investment if you are interested in the game and would like to improve. Frankly, i spent years trying to stubbornly create a golf swing until i went to an instructor and after a 1 hour session i dropped from shooting 100's to 80's. So thats my advice on your situation. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

yeah, hitting a hybrid forward in your stance is not what i would do either. you definitely want to hit it on the downswing. i even like to bring it slightly closer to my foot for a bit of a draw, which we know is the type of shot for best distance. so, move the ball back in your stance, and close the face a bit to fight the slice.

I wouldnt recommend creating those type of compensations in order to promote a certain ball flight.

At his level of skill, he should be swinging with a squared clubface with the ball in the proper position. Altering the basic fundamentals to produce certain ballflights really isnt advisable right now. Moreso, compensating to 'fight' a slice isnt the best of ideas as well. A slice is a result of a failed swing fundamental. Instead of compensating by creating worse fundamentals (setting up with a slightly closed face), you want to get to the root of the problem by making sure your grip is proper and that you are aligned square and not cutting across the ball. Also you want to address your swing path and that you arent coming over the top of the ball. If you are looking to improve, the goal should be to develop as much of a textbook perfect swing as your body allows you to...not develop offhand compensations that may work for a round or practice session before they break down. Every pro has sound fundamentals. On bad days, you dont see them topping or chunking shots to the point where they dribble around or wildly shoot off the hosel. They have sound fundamentals too fall back on, which even an amateur golfer can develop. Remember that you want to create sound fundamentals that you can fall back on from day to day...not compensations that may work for a short period of time.

Not trying to bump this up, just wanted to give a quick update and thanks.

For the hybrids: Once I moved the ball back to the center of my stance and really thought about what I was doing, I realized I was changing my whole stance to try to hit these clubs (leaning forward and putting the ball off my front foot and spreading my legs... just terrible) just because I was unfamiliar with the club. After that, I just forgot about what club it was and hit it like an iron and boom. I can hit it fine now. Thanks very much for the help!

For the driver/general swing issues: I took the advice from m11 (big thanks again) and checked my grip (which was pretty close to the one in the video, just needed minor adjustments) and allignment. I also signed up for a lesson to make sure I'm on the right track.

Again, thanks very much for the advice!